Pillars of Justice
by randomideaguy
Summary: The Prophet of Truth has been assassinated, and two loyal Covenant soldier have been assigned to determine who the killer is and to bring the heretic to justice by any means necessary. But things are not all as they seem, and this unlikely duo may uncover a conspiracy that could wreak the entire Covenant and bring the universe to it's knees.


"No one is to know of this until we discover the culprit and bring them to justice!"

The Prophet of Regret's words echoed in Thel 'Vadamees mind as he look sullenly at the terrible scene before him. The Prophet of Truth lay dead on the group, a small burn mark on his forehead. It was a truly tragic loss for the Covenant. He had simply dropped dead less than twenty four hours. He had been too young for this. The Prophet of Regret had recognized Thel's talents as a detective years ago, and now he was on the fast track to becoming High Inquisitor. If he could just solve this case, his career would be ironclad.

But there was one complication. Thel's jaw tightened and his eyes squinted at the sight of that thing. His fist balled up as the squishy meat sack crouched down next to the dead body of the sovereign leader of the Covenant. How dare he approach his dead leader so disrespectfully! Thel moved to say something, but the human turned and looked into his direction. He was like a monkey, his face covered in brown fur of the type that most humans had. His eyes, though, they were as cold as ice.

Thel shuddered, turning away from the scene. He would let the man work. He was still very frustrated that he had been paired with such lower caste scum, but the local Deacon had insisted that this man be put on the case. After all, it happened practically on their property, where this creature, Equality-117 has been safe-guarded sacred Covenant artifacts for years. Some would say the humans provided a valuable service to the Covenant. Thel tried not to gag at the thought.

He looked over again as the human finished examining the dead Prophet. Thel forced away more anger as he saw Equality touch the sacred Prophet's forehead and pull away some substance. Equality held it up at eye level, staring at it intently. He then rubbed his fingers together and sniffed it. Thel rolled his eyes – the humans were such primates. Almost as bestial as the Jiralhanae that the Covenant had tried to conquer less than a generation ago. That had been a mistake, and the humans were also a mistake.

"Laser." The uppity human announced, as if Thel had any care at all about his thrice damned opinion.

"What?" Thel replied, a tone of annoyance and patronization in his voice.

"It was a laser. Nothing we could have made. Only one group could have made this weapon." He replied, not seeming to notice (or care) about Thel's attitude.

"You don't mean..." Thel began.

"Insurrectionists." Equality told him. Thel sneered in absolute disgust, while Equality's face remained as eerily impassive as before.

"But there's no way an Insurrectionist could have made it onto High Charity. It's simply not possible." Thel replied indignantly. The very idea was just so outlandish, he didn't know how to respond.

"I didn't say they pulled the trigger." Finally Equality's demeanor seemed to change a little, as a small smirk came upon his face. Thel made a mental note to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off of his face later. But right now, he had the death of a Prophet to take care of.

Now it was his turn to inspect the body, and Equality-117 stepped back respectfully as Thel went to work. He hadn't worked his way up to Vice Inquisitor by slacking off, and his investigations were very thorough. He pulled out a viewing device, quickly using it to scan and inventory everything on the scene, identifying chemicals and other signatures that would be of use to him in this investigation. As he worked tediously, a bit of water drifted through the air. It was somewhat similar to the rain on various worlds, but was of hydrogen variety rather than the methane that Thel was used to. Naturally, the coarse Equality-117 seemed to be enjoying the nice drift of 'water' through the air. Thel sniffed uncomfortably as he finished taking pictures of the gruesome scene. He was about to finish when he saw something small and gray, glimering by the back exit of the small building. He bent down, picking a small hair that had landed on the floor next to the door.

He brought it to his nose and inhaled the scent of it deeply, examining the texture of it before handing it unceremoniously to Equality-117, who performed a similar test. Neither of them needed to say aloud what the other was thinking. It was clear what race the assassin had been – a Jiralhanae. Though it would be next to impossible for one to get into High Charity, the physical evidence at the scene told the two otherwise.

Thel fumed at the thought of such a beast being allowed to desecrate the holy capitol of the Covenant. The scumbag humans were one matter, but they were royal knights in comparison to the hairy Brutes. Thel literally had to stop for a moment so that he would not become sick and spew the contents of his stomach on the floor, thus dishonoring himself in front of the Sentinel.

He turned to Equality-117.

"There's only one way in or out of this city, and that's through the Minister of Tranquility. We'll have to talk to him." He tossed a slender metal object to the large human (who was still a bit shorter than Thel) and then quickly walked out of the room, his purple cloak billowing behind him. Equality was fast on his feet, and he followed Thel at a brisk pace out of the holographic barrier that enclosed the crime scene, out into the dock where all the vehicles were parked. Inquisitor 'Vadamee turned to Equality-117.

"Alright, Sentinel. Let's see how well you can pilot." And with that he stepped quietly into the passenger seat of his expensive hover vehicle, built mainly for inner-city travel, it was very fast but not quite cut out for space. Equality looked at the key, then at the car. He looked away, letting the rain drops drift over him for a few moments, and at long last hopped into the vehicle, plugged the key into the slot and confidently putting the car into gear.

"Hold onto your armor, Inquisitor." He informed as the car rocketed into the high lanes of traffic with a quick precision. Thel grabbed onto the edge of his seat as he tried to not look to alarmed at the speed that this human was pushing his expensive vehicle to. He was a mix of angered and impressed. Angry that the human would test him like this, and impressed by his balls to do this kind of thing to someone at his high rank.

They weaved in and out of traffic rather dangerously, avoiding all the slow vehicles (which was everyone but them). The entire vehicle glowed, showing the other species to get out of the way – the Inquisitor had urgent business to take care of. Only once during the entire trip did Thel shut his eyes in a moment of fear. Equality had been driving them right towards a living structure, and he very nearly killed them both. But at the last second they turned away, weaving around the building and cutting across multiple lanes of traffic.

He had to admit, it was effective. They made it across the Capitol in less than ten cycles, and the key was not even out of the slot when Thel 'Vadamee stepped out of it, his bulky frame making a small clink sound of the cool purple metal of the platform they had docked on. A smaller thud resulted when Equality-117 left his own seat, the key dropping into his pocket. At least the would serve as an adequate chauffeur.

They walked almost side by side towards the door of the Minister of Tranquility's office. Thel held out a hand, quietly but forcefully suggesting that Equality give him the due respect of letting him lead. These humans had best get their act together lest they forget the Correction of the Humans. The Arbiter had shown them what respect meant back then, maybe they needed a new lesson.

Thel forced himself to focus as they approached the door to the Minister's office. He clenched his jaw, then released again in a long breath. Behind him, Equality cracked his neck. How uncivilized.

"I shall handle this, stand guard out here. That's what you Sentinels are good at, right?"

"Whatever you say, Inquisitor."

The door slid upwards, opening up the Minister's office to Thel. Equality turned around, facing the entryway. Thel sighed, turned, and walked into the office of the Minister of Tranquility.


End file.
